Tarla Dalal director Piyush Gupta turned to filmmaking because he really wanted to tell her story to the world

Tarla Dalal is eponymous with gourmet cooking in India. Even before we had MasterChefs of the world inspire people to tap into their culinary skills and soften to the idea of working in the kitchen out of choice and not need, it was this woman with a smile on her face and apron on self who warmed our hearts to the idea of experimentation and finding love in cooking. Possibly the first who made cookbooks and recipe books a thing in India, there is now a film on home chef Tarla Dalal as it promises to translate the enigma that is Tarla Dalal.

Filmmaker Piyush Gupta who makes his directorial debut with Tarla Dalal starring Huma Qureshi in the leading role, spoke to WION about his film and bringing Tarla Dalal to the big screen for the new age who is over exposed to food blogs and food bloggers.

Here are the excerpts of this conversation:

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WION: This is your directorial debut. How did you find the experience?

Piyush Gupta: I was forced into direction by the writer in me. All I wanted to do was to write a film on Tarlaji’s life. I couldn’t find a filmmaker who felt the same way about the subject as I did. I understood early on that if I want to tell this story, I will have to don the director’s hat too.

Must do's for first-time directors

WION: Now that you have sunk your teeth in this pie, what advice would you have for first-time filmmakers?

Piyush Gupta: I have only one piece of advice for anyone who’s signing up for this rollercoaster ride called direction, that is, to have fun. Don’t let any constraint on the set rob you of your joy. Eventually that joy spills into every shot, every scene, every moment of the film. And that joy gives every film that 'extra something' that can’t be measured by anyone but can be felt by everyone.

Telling Tarla Dalal's story to the world, the right way

WION: We all know of Tarla Dalal ji. She was an icon in the culinary world. What kind of preparations did the film demand, to do justice to her life story?

Piyush Gupta: A lot of preparations went into everything. With our dialect coach Hetal, we unearthed the tone. She was the one who discovered that while Tarlaji was Gujarati, her dialect was influenced by Pune Marathi. So, she spoke Gujarati in a Marathi accent. That discovery changed the way we approached the dialogues completely.

Suraj Vyas brought to my notice that Tarlaji’s hand gesture could be a result of years of cooking. We took that in for our performance. My DA Raabiya helped my co-writer Gautam and me to tighten the script so that the film doesn’t have a moment where it stops. It’s always moving because we kept getting rid of the excess weight the script was carrying.

Tasneem brought in the look. My mother provided her sarees from that period. And my DOP Salu brought his unique eye to the project and gave all his heart and time to make sure that what we shoot is not real but real and beautiful.

WION: Did you face any challenges while filming for Tarla Dalal?

Piyush Gupta: There is a three-page long monologue of Nalin (Sharib Hashmi) towards the end of the film. It was my favourite scene and I wanted it to be organic just the way my co-writer Gautam and I wrote it. I wanted the apology to feel earnest and real. And for me, the only way we could have achieved that was by doing the scene unprepared. So that’s what we did.

We didn’t rehearse the scene at any time before the shoot. My DOP Salu Thomas didn’t do any blocking. Our steadicam operator Harshil had no idea how the actors would perform the scene. Right before the shoot, I told Sharib to think of the scene as his opportunity to apologise to his wife for all things his wife never blamed him for. I think it worked but only time will tell.

Tarla Dalal will stream on ZEE5 from July 7.

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